


secret alphabets

by twohats



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Drinking, Halloween Costumes, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Uhhhhhhhh, future nsfw too, hands you a crack ship, ill add more tags later, meaningless (?) sex, not beta read we die like men, shane questions his sexuality probably, this was originally gonna be pwp and in a way it still is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:14:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26352490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twohats/pseuds/twohats
Summary: Shane and Sebastian have a chance meeting whilst seeking respite from the Spirit's Eve festivities. A memory of a night a few years back resurfaces.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sebastian/Shane (Stardew Valley)
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hmm... what is there to say about *this* fic. it's... well... it certainly is a fic. i've enjoyed writing it. i'll try to update it pretty regularly, maybe weekly? it's mostly written at this point, i think it'll be 3-4 chapters.
> 
> i dunno why, but something about shane and sebastian's distinct flavors of gloominess really spoke to me. i think they play off each other in a fun way. would probably never be anything serious, but it's fun to think about.
> 
> also in my headcannon shane isn't really *that* much older than sebastian/sam/abigail (who i'd put at maybe 23ish? while shane is 27) it's not that important, but just wanted to establish that ;^)

Shane wakes up one autumnal morning to the sound of rain.

He rolls over in his bed, the steady drumming outside muffled in his aunt’s farmhouse. His head thuds quietly in time with the rain. Somewhere, maybe in the depths of the mountains, or across the gem sea, thunder rolls, and his head follows suit.

He forces himself up.

Shane looks across the bed, looks around his room, looks at the empty beers on his nightstand. Here he was, thinking he was long since finished with the hangovers.

Rubbing his stubbly face, he slips on a shirt, and begins to mentally prepare for the day ahead of him. It’s early enough yet that Jas hasn’t left for school, and Marnie hasn’t opened up shop. If he was lucky, he’d brush his teeth, pop two aspirin, burn his tongue on his coffee, and get to work without any questions, interactions, et cetera.

He catches his reflection in a dressing mirror across the room, but doesn’t linger. There was a time where, perhaps, people found him attractive. Maybe five years ago or so, maybe twenty pounds ago, maybe before things got to be… like this. He can’t really bring himself to care. His sweatpants-clad form shuffles to the TV, now broadcasting static, and turns it off.

* * *

Shane emerges from the bathroom as the rain continues to throttle and rock the ranch. The light in the kitchen is on, which means Marnie is, no doubt, checking on the cows this morning and making sure she _actually_ closed the barn door last night. He puts on a pot of coffee, and in doing so, catches the calendar up on the wall of the kitchen.

Beneath the picture of baby pigs in a field of autumn crops for this month, he checks the date, the most recent in a long line of dates passed, diligently crossed by Marnie. _Oh, boy_ — 

The front door opens, the rain reaches Shane’s ears for but a moment before said door slams shut with the wind. The scrape of Marnie’s boots. The shifting of some silvery fabric. Raincoat, of course.

“Shane— You’re awake?” She asks cautiously as she rounds the corner from the mudroom to the kitchen, smoothing back her windswept, mousy hair.

“Yep.” He says, turning away from the calendar, and trying not to look his aunt in the eye. For some reason. “Make no mistake, I wouldn’t be if I’d realized.” He points at the calendar. 

Marnie flashes him a warm smile. Shane goes about his business, pouring his coffee and setting aside a mug for his aunt.

“Oh, of course—“ She grins, and he braces himself as she clasps a hand on his shoulder. “Happy Spirit’s Eve!” 

* * *

By the time the festival rolled around, by the time the storm had cleared out, by the time the weak autumn sun sank below the trees, Shane found himself wondering if the day off work was worth all the anticipation surrounding this festival. _A late night of loud noises and stupid scream sound effects. Same as last year… Not to mention the nightmares Jas’ll have about those props Marlin puts up…_ Shane thinks to himself as he nurses the third cup of cider that Marnie had warmed after dinner. _It’s a nuisance._

Truth be told, Shane far preferred the Stardew Valley fair. At least then, he got to showcase the work he did, his pride and joy; the chickens. He thinks fondly of them and the prizes they’d won earlier in the month. There were many things in his life that he felt were pointless— the chickens were not one of those things. 

A chilling breeze rises up from the black treetops of Cindersap, effectively stirring Shane from his thoughts as he sits perched on the porch steps. He draws himself in a bit closer, the edges of the velvet vampire’s cloak not providing the best insulation from the cold. Inwardly he wonders what’s taking so long… not that he’s in any big rush. “To hell with it…” He murmurs before downing the rest of the mug and standing up to his full height, stretching his knees.

It’s then that he sees someone.

Specifically, three people. He recognizes them pretty much instantly - it’s hard not to. While most of the folks in Stardew Valley are a bit more _earthy_ in their general appearances and demeanors, Abigail, Sam, and Sebastian tended to stand out. The trio of friends always hung out on the outskirts of all the town gatherings, never mingling too much, always seemingly too cool. Not that Shane would really know much about their social patterns… He had a good few years on the lot of them, after all. Probably hadn’t said more than a few sentences between the three of them.

Except…

Shane shivers the memory away and watches the three as they pass through the forest, the hum of their conversation mingling with the wind and the crunching of dead leaves. As they come up past Leah’s cabin, Shane can see Sam dressed as a werewolf, Abigail as a mummy, and Sebastian as a… vampire… of course. 

Of course, Sebastian would pull off their shared costume leagues better than Shane. Not that Shane particularly cared— about this whole thing, of course— but, there was no denying that Sebastian had a natural leg up on him in the tall, dark, and… vampiric departments. As the trio passes the ranch, neither they nor Shane spare each other any kind of greeting. Based on the flask Shane spots in Sam’s hands, he figures they’re probably having a better time without him anyway.

It’s not long after this that the door to the ranch finally opens.

Jas is dressed like a fairy princess from one of the books he reads to her sometimes - her face is painted extravagant pinks and blues, courtesy of Marnie’s steady hand. He smiles as he straightens her crown. When she looks up at him - her eyes glistening as she chatters excitedly about the evening’s events, how she gets to stay up past her bedtime - Shane feels a burst of something in his chest for his goddaughter, any fragment of bitterness washed from his heart. 

Finally, Marnie appears in tow wearing her classic black cat ears/tail combination. Shane pops in his shitty fake vampire teeth, and the three of them roll out and make the trek to the town as night fully falls in the Valley.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember when i was like, maybe i'll update this weekly? yeah, no, we going :airplane emoji: chapter 2 now

_Maybe three ciders was too much before… All of this…_ Shane thinks to himself as the torchlight pours over the entirety of town square, illuminating all of the more family-friendly festivities. The Spirit’s Eve mix playing over the speakers picks up with what must be the 5th “ _evil ghost laughing”_ noise … _Or maybe I didn’t have enough…_

Shane glances up from his punch cup as Marnie and Jas become preoccupied with a _pin the tail on the ghost_ game. It’s silly, but the kids seem to enjoy it well enough, and that’s good enough for him. He sees Lewis move towards his aunt, and takes that as his cue to make a break for it.

Cutting to the east of the main square, Shane pushes past the darkness of the closed Saloon and makes his way to the bridge overlooking the river. Relatively far away from the hubbub, he thinks about the little minibottles he’s got stashed in his pockets, and how that’ll be his ticket to getting through the night in one piece.

Approaching the bridge, a smell meets his nose, and then a figure comes into sight. Almost on instinct, Shane turns away on his heal, but it would seem he’s already been spotted. A snort from the dark-haired man on the bridge makes him stop.

“Good, if you’d stayed then _one_ of us would have to change.” Sebastian snips, but not without a hint of playfulness in his voice. Shane sheepishly turns around to face the younger man.

“I didn’t want to interrupt your smoke.” He says plainly, gesturing to the joint in Sebastian’s hand. 

“It’s a public bridge, I don’t care what you do.” Sebastian shrugs, and takes another toke. Shane briefly weighs the consequences of going to the southern bridge, perfectly within eyeshot of this one, and clambers up the stone to stand with his back to his fellow vampire.

“That shit stinks.” Shane mumbles, emptying the contents of two bottles into his punch. 

“So does that.” Sebastian quips back, gesturing to Shane’s cup with his unoccupied hand, “I can smell it on you from back there. We’re both just doing what we need in order to get through tonight.”

“Whatever. Are you going to share, or…?” Shane asks without looking up. Sebastian pads to Shane’s side of the bridge, offering the joint as Shane takes a sip from his cup.

Shane casts a glance to the other man, and remembers the last time he was this close to Sebastian— Zuzu city, a few years back. Sebastian had just gotten that bike of his. By all accounts, if his memory served him correctly, they were both absolutely shitfaced. He takes a drag.

“So…” He says, exhaling the smoke into the cold night air. “I thought Spirit’s Eve was sort of… your thing?” Shane says, gesturing with the joint in his hand as he looks over Sebastian’s get-up. “You’re definitely dressed the part, kid.”

“Don’t call me kid, you’re like, what, 30? And, hey, give me that.” Sebastian gripes, plucking the joint from Shane’s hand. “I love the holiday, the scares and the chill in the air. I just don’t like all of… that.” He gestures towards the festivities. “It’s a bit much for me. I’d rather be at home watching a movie marathon or something, but, whatever.”

“27.” Shane shrugs, a bit caught up in the world as the weed and the alcohol begin to bring his buzz back. “And, sure, same. I love this time of year.”

By all accounts, by all means possible, they should not have wound up in the same club.

Shane was in town for a Gridball game - Sebastian on some outing to prove he had an inch of freedom. 

_“Sometimes I feel trapped there…”_ Sebastian had said as the lights around them danced on his pretty skin as they had talked, on their nth round. _“Like nothing ever changes. I don’t want to live like that. That’s hell.”_

The words swam in Shane’s mind. Unable to meet Sebastian’s eyes. Holding a sweating glass.

_“Yep, that’s hell.”_

The words were coming back to Shane by the minute. He managed a smile - the irony of this memory resurfacing after taking a hit wasn’t lost on him. 

Realizing he’d stopped mid thought, Shane blurted out, “But Spirit’s Eve festivals aren’t exactly my idea of fun, either. Hence…” Shane sipped before gesturing for Sebastian to take, which he obliged.

“I will say, you three did seem to have a good pregame though.” He continued, causing Sebastian to sputter on the drink they shared.

“You saw that?” Sebastian asked, handing the cup back.

“You walked right past me. Not exactly subtle.”

“Oh… Sorry.” A halfhearted apology. Shane waves his hand and rolls his eyes. “If it makes you feel any better, it was my stipulation for coming along with those two.”

“Ah, right. I almost forgot about them.” Shane says with a chuckle. Sips. “So, how’d the sheep separate from the flock?”  


“Huh. I forgot that you do that… that you speak like an old dude.”  
  
“Stop bringing up my age, would you? I’m only 27.”  
  
“Whatever. Sam and Abi just… tend to like this stuff a lot more than me. They have so much more energy than I do. Like… Abigail went into that maze hours ago and I haven’t seen her since. Sam… I don’t even know, he’s probably with Penny? Anyway…” He shakes his head. “I don’t know why I came. I knew they’d do this.”

Shane looked sympathetically at the younger man. 

_“What if we got out of here?”_ He’d said that night. He wasn’t… sure… what was happening, where their encounter was going. What had started as an awkward exchange had turned into something stranger. Shane didn’t even know if Sebastian _liked_ men. Hell, he didn’t even know if _he_ liked men. But it felt right.

_Where? Where would we go?_

_I have a room._

_Okay, let’s go._

It was strange. It was fumbling, it was years ago and very dark and drunk and in the time between now and then they’d spoken maybe five words to each other… but here they were once again. Something convenient.

“Well…” Shane exhales as he speaks, the words falling from his mouth before he has the wherewithal to filter them. “At least we’re not alone.”

Sebastian glances at Shane for a moment before finishing off the joint and pocketing the roach. 


End file.
